Alloy and method of its manufacture.



UNITED STATES Patented July 26, 1904.

PATENT QEEICE.

ALLOY AND METHOD OF ITS MANUFACTURE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 766,085, dated July 26,1904.

Application filed November 25, 1902. Serial No. 132,782. (No specimens.)

T0 /t// 'ur/tmrt 7'15 nmq concern.-

Be it known that I, RICHARD BEAUCHAMP lVuEA'rLuY, residing at No. 115Hungeri'ord road, Barnsbury, in the county of London, England, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improved Metallic Alloy and Process ofIts Manufacture; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

The alloy which forms the subject of this invention consists principallyof copper and zinc, which are united in the proportions very nearly likethose found in common brass, but with which other metals are associatedin small proportions, with the effect of endowing the alloy withphysical properties greatly superior to that of brass. Those propertiesinclude great tensile strength. very great ductility, enabling the metalto be spun and mechanically manipulated while cold with a considerabledegree of deformation without fracture, a large capacity for resistingcorrosion under atmospheric influence, and a beautiful ruddy gold-likecolor. To a considerable extent these properties are derived from themere appropriate presence of the additional substances; but they arealso to a large extent due to the period at which and method by whichone special ingredient is introduced into the melting-pot andamalgamated with the other metals.

The alloy consists of about ninety-eight and one-half per cent. ofcopper and zinc, which are present roughly in the respective proportionsof sixty and forty per cent, and the remaining one and one-half percent. is made up of the following other metals, namely: tin, aluminium,iron, manganese, tungsten, and strontium, and it is to the two latterthat I attribute the great virtue of my alloy, the strontium serving tocause the tungsten to be thoroughly incorporated with the mass of thealloy.

In order to explain how the alloy is produced, it will be convenient tostate the proportions by giving the weights of other substances whichare added to, say, twenty pounds of copper. The total quantity of zincto be added is twelve and one-half pounds; but it is not all introducedat once. The other substances are. copper manganese alloy, four ounces,consistingof seventy-live per cent. of copper and twenty-five per cent,of manganese; ferro-tungsten alloy, two ounces, consisting oftwenty-five per cent. of iron and seventy-live per cent. of tungsten;aluminium, one and one-half ounces; tin, two ounces; and sulfate ofstrontium, four ounces.

The sulfate of strontium is lirst blended with a portion of the zincabout live pounds in a separate crucible, and the resulting metal, whichwill contain about one and one-half ounces of strontium compound out ofthe four which were introduced, is reserved to be added finally to theother metals to produce my alloy. This zinc-strontium blend, which hassuch a beneficial action on my alloy, is effected by melting the zincand then adding the sulfate of strontium, maintaining the metal in astate of fusion for about twenty to thirty minutes, and stirringthoroughly.

To produce the alloy, the several metals mentioned and in theproportions stated, with the exception of five pounds of the zinc andthe sulfate of strontium, are added to the meltingpot in an order whichmay be varied without appreciable alteration of effect and fused andintimately mixed by stirring, after which the zinc-strontium blend isadded and the whole again thoroughly stirred. The strontium, which inthis way is caused to pervade the whole mass, enables the other metals,notably the tungsten, to enter into intimate association with the alloyand give a beautiful ruddygold color to a very homogeneous metalpossessing the other fine qualities previously mentioned. The resultingalloy has a percentage composition approximately as follows, but theproportions may be somewhat varied without material effect, one of thecritical features of this invention consisting in effecting ahomogeneous mass by the addition at the last stage of the mixing of ablending compound of zinc and strontium: approximate percentagecomposition of alloy, copper, 60.8; Zinc, 37.6; manganese, iron, .1;

tungsten, .3; aluminium,..3; tin, .4; strontium, .3; total, one hundred.

I claim 1. An alloy consisting of about ninety-eight and one-half percent. of copper and Zinc which are present approximately in theproportions of sixty and forty per cent. respectively and about one andone-half per cent. of other metals, consisting of manganese, iron,tungsten, aluminium,tin and strontium about one-third of which consistsof tungsten and strontium in equal quantities.

2. An alloy consisting of about ninety-eight and one-half per cent. ofcopper and zinc which are present approximately in the proportions ofsixty and forty per cent. respectively and about one and one-half percent. of other metals, consisting of about .2 of manganese, .1 of iron,.3 of tungsten, .3 of aluminium, .4 of tin and .3 of strontium.

3. A process for producing an alloy consisting of about ninety-eight andone-half per cent. of copper and Zinc which are present approximately inthe proportion of sixty and forty per cent. respectively, and about oneand one-half per cent. of other metals containing tungsten and strontiumin which a blend of the strontium and some of the zinc, which haspreviously been separately formed,

is at the last stage of the mixing, added to the other molten metalswhich compose the alloy.

4:. A process for producing an alloy by intermixing the followingmetallic substances in the following proportions and order, first toabout one hundred and sixty parts of zinc in the molten state eightparts of sulfate of strontium are added, second to about six hundred andforty parts of copper and about two hundred and forty parts of zinc inthe molten state eight parts of an alloy of copper and manganesecontaining six parts of the former and two of the latter, four parts ofan alloy of iron and tungsten containing one part of the former andthree parts of the latter, three parts of aluminiumand four parts of tinare added, third the product of the first mixing is added to that of thesecond mixing while the latter is in the molten state.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

RICHARD BEAUCHAMP WHEATLEY.

Witnesses:

R0131. A. BLAKE, N. M. HARRIS.

